This page is for reviews by classmates and news of books/articles which are relevant to the class.

Joe Prather spotted Ken Moyle's letter in the 7/16/09 Economist: "SIR – You didn’t mention administrative overheads, which make up about 30% of the cost of America’s health-care system. Look into the front offices of doctors’ premises and hospitals and you will see an army of clerks and accountants dealing with a multitude of insurance companies, each with different forms, different criteria and different payment schedules. If we were to standardise medical insurance forms, we would be able to absorb the cost of covering the uninsured. Ken Moyle, Beaverton, Oregon"

Ken Scasserra sent word that Barry van Gerbig had an article published in Sports Illustrated's 6/15/09 golf edition. Entitled "The Truth Teller", it's about his personal relationship with golf great Ben Hogan:

"BEN HOGAN DIDN'T SAY MUCH, BUT WHEN HE APPRISED THE AUTHOR, A LONGTIME FAMILY FRIEND, THAT HE WAS CALLOW AND COASTING, THE WORDS WERE TRANSFORMING"

Click here to view the whole article.

I just published a book (left). It is in the project management field. All projects have some sort of schedule that tells them when they will finish if everything goes according to plan. When did that happen, on any project? This method, built on discovering and estimating the project risks and using a Monte Carlo simulation of the schedule tells them when the project will really finish if they persist in the current plan. Often we estimate 6 – 15 months of delay, leading of course to addressing risk mitigation early in the project plan, BEFORE risks occur. -- Best wishes, David Hulett

Looking for a good 'beach read' this summer? Bob Fuller shamelessly suggests that you pick up a copy of his new crime novel, Unnatural Deaths. It's set in rural Maine, a locale with which Bob is quite familiar, having practiced in Maine for thirty-eight years prior to retiring. Check Bob's web site for a plot synopsis and reviews. Bob advises that you can find his novel at the usual on-line bookstores or at your local bookseller.

A book edited by Don Emmerson was published in November 2008. Click Don's name below for more information.

From 10/8/08 PAW: "Why Spy? Espionage in an Age of Uncertainty By Frederick P. Hitz ’61 (Thomas Dunne Books). In this primer on espionage, the author traces the careers and pitfalls of infamous spies such as Robert Hanssen and Aldrich Ames and examines why spying produced useful information during the Cold War but has been less successful in the war on terrorism. Hitz offers ideas to reform intelligence operations against terrorist targets. A former inspector general of the CIA, Hitz teaches at the University of Virginia’s law school and politics department."  In the same issue's '61 Class Notes, Lew Neisner commented that "this book should be required reading for all of us."

The Entitled: A Tale of Modern Baseball — Frank Deford ’61 (Sourcebooks). The main character in this novel, Howie Traveler, never made it as a player in Major League Baseball, but worked his way up the coaching ladder. When he finally gets his shot as manager of the Cleveland Indians, Traveler has to learn to handle his team’s megastar — homerun slugger Jay Alcazar, who has a big ego — or Traveler’s managing career will be over. Deford is a senior contributing editor at Sports Illustrated.  PAW 11/07

To: Anne-Marie Slaughter, From: Joe Prather, June 14, 2007, Subject: your great book! "Since you spoke at our class dinner in March I have been looking forward to reading your new book, The Idea That is America.  It is well reasoned and well written. I think that it could be the most important book of the 21st century’s first decade. Well done, and a well deserved locomotive to you!"

THE TROUBLE WITH CULTURE: How Computers Are Calming the Culture Wars
F. ALLAN HANSON ['61]
How the computer revolution can ease polarization and help calm the culture wars.

In this highly original book, anthropologist F. Allan Hanson reveals an entirely unanticipated but vital link between two of the most widely discussed features of contemporary American society: the computer revolution and the culture wars. Hanson argues that the culture wars stem from a divergence in the evolutionary paths of society and culture. Societies have evolved significantly over the last few millennia from small bands of farmers or hunter-gatherers into huge, internally diverse nationstates, while cultures-the closed systems of meanings and symbols that kept small, face-to-face societies together-have failed to keep pace. If cultures became more open, Hanson contends, than the maladaptive rupture between society and culture would be healed and the clashes that currently beset us would be greatly diminished. Interweaving lucid analysis with concrete case studies of common law, education, and other areas of contemporary life, Hanson demonstrates how the widespread use of computers is, in fact, encouraging more originality and open-mindedness, with the potential to ease polarization and calm the culture wars.

"Not only does the book forge new interdisciplinary ties, but it does so by moving effortlessly between theoretical discussions and empirical observations. The reader is constantly aware of the cultural stakes of learning to think more flexibly about our own humanity and our human ability to give the world structure and meaning. Hanson clearly cares about the topic under review and that sincerity is conveyed throughout."

- Evan Selinger, editor of Postphenomenology: A Critical Companion to Ihde 

F. ALLAN HANSON is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Kansas and the author of several books, including Testing Testing: Social Consequences of the Examined Life.
FEBRUARY 07, 2007 186 pp.

 I am writing to inform you of the publication of my latest co-edited volume, Global Accountabilities: Participation, Pluralism, and Public Ethics (Alnoor Ebrahim and Edward Weisband, eds.) published by Cambridge University Press in 2007. The book examines frameworks and standards of accountability across international settings and within multilateral institutions. It emphasizes the importance of cultural values and understandings in the dynamics of monitoring and reporting on accountability.

Professor Edward Weisband [click here for Ed's bio]
Department of Political Science, School of Public and International Affairs
Virginia Tech

Scorpion Down by Ed Offley, c.2007, Basic Books

This book is of interest to the class of 1961 because our classmate Bill Harwi was one of those lost when the Scorpion sank. Many of us remember Bill as an enthusiastic NROTC candidate. 

Ed Offley has done a thorough job of investigating the sinking of the Scorpion and the cover-up done by the US Navy. Offley shows that the cover-up was designed to prevent a larger shooting war with the Soviet Union because the soviets sank the Scorpion with a torpedo. It was not an accident. The soviets blamed the US for the loss of their boat K-129 and attacked the Scorpion in retaliation. The cover-up by the US Navy (in co-operation with the Russians) suggests the US was, indeed, responsible for the sinking of the soviet submarine.

Offley thoroughly documents his search for the truth about the loss of the Scorpion. At times, he repeats himself and tells us, perhaps, more than we want to know about his investigation. But he leaves no doubt with us about the correctness of his conclusions. During his investigation Offley discovered that the treason of John Walker and the loss of the Pueblo to the North Koreans allowed the Russians to read US Navy code. We had no secrets from the Russians. This compromise of US Navy communications was even more complete than the compromise of Japanese communications in World War II. He shows that this ability to read US communications was a part of the sinking of the Scorpion.

While it is a well researched book many may not be willing to plow through it all unless they want to know exactly what happened, and why, to our classmate, Bill.

-- Jim Adams

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